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9 Feb

Girls’ Night In

Posted by Rebecca in Friends, In the kitchen, Rebecca. 6 comments

About once a month (or, occasionally, a bit more frequently…), a group of my girlfriends hold a “Girls’ Night Out.” Last week, I hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed “Girls’ Night In.” About 25 women came together for conversation, cake-tinis, cupcakes and other sweets, and I was left feeling pretty darn fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people.

Here are a few photos (and recipes) from the night.

Glasses awaiting pink cake-tinis…

Dawn and Terri:

Chocolate covered pretzels with candy sprinkles, and a few other treats:

Red wine lollipops:

Jen, Elspeth, Monica, Erin, Tami and Jill:

Carly and Molly:

Made especially for Monica–Dark chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel filling and topped with fleur de sel:

Jill, Sarah and Jen:

Mini almond frangipane pies:

Michelle, Jill, Tami, Jen and Erin:

15 Jan

Rock chalk!

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Bryan, Olivia, Rebecca. 1 comment

I bought season basketball tickets last fall, which is perhaps the best bad decision I’ve ever made. We’ve had a great time trekking out to the weekly games over the past couple of month. On Saturday, we also had Bryan’s company tickets, so we took the girls with us. Despite trailing behind Iowa State for most the game, the Jayhawks secured another win. Here are few shots from the day.

12 Jan

Chocolate Layer Cake

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, In the kitchen, Olivia, Rebecca. 2 comments

Two notes about this very traditional chocolate layer cake, made from Martha Stewart’s super easy, one-bowl chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes: First, layer cakes are apparently the hip, new thing, and second, they always remind me of a sentiment I share with my girls — “I love you more than cake.”

When Ava hears this, she rolls her eyes, and says, “MOM. You should say, ‘I love you more than the earth,’ because without the earth, you wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here, and there CERTAINLY wouldn’t be cake.”

When I say this to Olivia, the look on her face tells me that she loves cake enough to truly understand and appreciate just how I feel about her.

22 Dec

Smith Family News

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Bryan, Olivia, Rebecca. 3 comments

Ava and Olivia have been sharing some new news far and wide this month—we’re expecting baby number three to arrive in early July! The girls are VERY excited to be big sisters, though they admit hoping for yet another girl. (I’m quite sure this one is a boy, but I’ve thought that twice before…)

Aside from some exhaustion, my first trimester has been so good, I’ve been joking that this one is going to be my favorite. One thing’s for sure, though—we’ll have plenty of help once this baby arrives!

18 Dec

Smith Family Fix

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Bryan, Olivia, Rebecca. 5 comments

13 Dec

Classmate gifts

Posted by Rebecca in Rebecca. 3 comments

Thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest (please, go right now and sign up–I’ll wait), I am spending the afternoon making “Reindeer Noses” for Ava’s classmates.

While the original Pin suggested a much more intricate label, I found an old reindeer stamp to work just fine. It took me quite a bit of time to find red “noses” to match the size of the malted milk balls, so I finally settled for larger gumballs. In the end, I think I like how that makes Rudolph’s nose stand out. At least that’s what I’m telling myself…

1 Dec

Livie Lou Whoooo’s party details

Posted by Rebecca in Olivia, Rebecca. 3 comments

When I decided on a owl theme for Olivia’s fourth birthday, I was sure it was a relatively unique idea. However, my first search for “owl birthday party” ideas turned up four million results. Literally, FOUR MILLION. So, not terribly creative, it turns out. However, the first 500,000 or so ideas really helped inspire the details for this party.

I started with paper craft invitations, securing the wings with rhinestone brads.

I also created what I continue to call my “second and last” pinata. I used a large, oval balloon for the body, and a smaller balloon for the head. I covered both with two layers of newspaper coated in wallpaper paste. I found that if I painted the paper mache body the same color as the tissue, I was able get by with fewer “feathers,” which proved to be a good time-saver. In all, this was about an eight to nine hour project. I’ll post photos of the pinata portion of the party later.

I think these treat bags, which were filled with owl stickers, pencils and temporary tattoos, as well as a few other treats were my favorite part. I used white lunch sacks and adhered the paper toppers with hot glue.

I also made owl masks and wings, which proved to be incredibly unpopular among my nieces and nephews. Thankfully, Jess wrangled at least a few into costume toward the end of the party. The masks were a bit time-intensive, but the wings (just ribbon and felt), went together in a snap at the last minute the night before the party.

I found adorable owl plates and noisemakers online at Celebration Express. Apologies for the dark photo. Also, I’m not sure noisemakers are needed at a party with seven small children…

Once I arrived at Doug and Karyl’s, I had a huge amount of help from Debbie, Laura, Jess and Karyl, and my mom and Gramma Great brought items as well. Debbie and Laura iced the cutout cookies.

I topped Livie’s cake with an owl formed from Rice Krispie treats, then covered him in fondant frosting. As I noted on Facebook, it’s much easier to smooth buttercream in PhotoShop than in real life…

Owl silhouettes with rhinestone eyes topped sandwich skewers …

…and Odell’s makes a Double Pilsner with an owl on the label—how lucky is that?

That’s all for the details–more on the party participants soon!

28 Oct

Catching up

Posted by Rebecca in Blog business, Family, Rebecca. 2 comments

This is always a hectic time of year at work, and yet, it’s probably my favorite—events come together, blueline print proofs magically turn into boxes upon boxes of publications with that new-ink smell, and the entire campus rallies around fall sports and an unbelievably gorgeous landscape.

This also happens to be my favorite time of year at home. Fall makes me want to decorate, cook and host dinner parties—something that would be just fine if there weren’t quite so many of those events and print proofs at work.

But, this weekend, I packed it in at 4 pm, leaving the office for a date with Cinderella and Rapunzel. And, we have a lovely weekend planned. It’s filled not only with decorating and cooking, but a serendipitous gathering of family.

So, work will wait, while the cooking and hosting, happily, will not.

5 Oct

“We’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?”

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Parenting, Rebecca. 10 comments

Nope. No spirit here.

Each year, the KU spirit squad hosts a fundraiser. For about fifty bucks, you can send your little cheerleader down to the sidelines to cheer on the Jayhawks during a football game. One of Ava’s sitters cheers competitively at the high school level, and she invited Ava to participate. I thought she’d have a fabulous time—what’s not to love? Between the band and the mascots, not to mention about 40 other little girls, I was sure she’d have a blast.

Our photos from the event, however, tell a slightly different story…

Ava just wasn’t into it.

Not. At. All.

And, she became increasingly miserable.

I found myself vacillating between a desire to scoop her up and save her, and a complete and total frustration at her unwillingness to participate.

I always wanted to be a cheerleader. I said this to Bryan in one of those moments of frustration, irritated that Ava wasn’t grateful for this experience I wanted but could never have. (Bryan said, “You could have been a cheerleader!” Yeah, no. “Says who?” Says the panel of judges that turned me down after I tried out. Two years in a row. “Oh.”)

I realize, of course, my attempts to live vicariously failed. Hard. And I feel terrible. Not only because Ava was so unhappy, but also because I should know her so much better than I do. I am always shocked to see she’s shy, shocked to learn she’s not excited by the things that excite me.

So again, I am reminded she is her own person. (I should note: She might be a bit like her dad, who said, “Who can blame her? I’d hate it out there.”)

My concern now comes from how I can adjust to better suit her. I can’t just sign her up for everything I’d find fun. I am really going to have to work to understand what makes her tick. I feel like I should know this already—that it should just be ingrained. I’ve been with her for six and a half years.

One thing I do know—she’s friendly. And being with her friends makes her happy.